Generating new knowledge in HPE through research and innovative educational practice is one of the key missions of the Center for Health Professions Education (CHPE) at USU. Healthcare systems with national scope such as the Military Health System (MHS) must take the lead in both the theory and scholarship of health professions education-- as such, the Graduate Programs in HPE at USU generate cutting edge research using diverse goals and methodologies to reach audiences with a wide range of backgrounds and locations.
CHPE faculty members are involved in a variety of research and evaluation efforts across the university, as well as nationally and internationally. Locally, faculty members in HPE lead initiatives like the JPC-1 Clinical Reasoning in Military Medical Simulation investigation, the university’s Long-Term Career Outcome Study (LTCOS), and USU’s research program in Military Interprofessional Healthcare Team education. Across these and other projects, CHPE faculty currently manage more than $10 million dollars in extramural and intramural grant funding.
2022-2023 Academic year highlights:
LTCOS continues to produce cutting-edge scholarship, providing evidence for USU curricular and policy decisions to include producing a Military Medicine special edition comprised of 21 publications to support Middle States and Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accreditation efforts and enhance the evidence that supports our instruction. CHPE also continues to support the SoM’s Medical Education Elective and capstone experiences reaching numerous medical students as well as the Offce of Faculty Development’s local and national efforts to include delivering workshops during Leadership Week.
Faculty members in HPE are involved in a variety of research and evaluation efforts across the university, as well as nationally and internationally. Locally, faculty members in HPE lead initiatives like the JPC-1 Clinical Reasoning in Military Medical Simulation investigation, the university’s Long-Term Career Outcome Study (LTCOS), and USU’s research program in Military Interprofessional Healthcare Team education. Across these and other projects, faculty in HPE currently manage more than $10 million dollars in extramural and intramural grant funding.
DEVELOPING ASSESSMENT TOOLS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISMS OF CLINICAL REASONING IN MILITARY MEDICAL SIMULATION
Funded by the Joint Program Committee-1 (JPC-1)/Medical Simulation and Information Sciences Research Program, a project of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), a team of multiple HPE investigators was awarded more that $1.5 million dollars to provide a revolutionary look at clinical reasoning among physicians.
Specifically, the HPE JPC-1 grant seeks to understand how physicians engage in clinical reasoning, and how different types of contextual factors influence their clinical reasoning and self-regulation of that reasoning. The multi-year study involves more than fifteen principal investigators and research associates, including multiple faculty and staff members of the HPE program at USU and several external advisory board members.
The JPC-1 study utilizes medical simulation methodology, providing participants with different case scenarios and asking them to document how they think about their reasoning, in addition to having several of their biometric indicators recorded (such as heart rate and blood pressure) to examine how participants’ physiologic responses might be influenced during the clinical reasoning and analysis process.
Better understanding how contextual factors influence clinical reasoning and self-regulation of clinical reasoning will help inform new educational interventions, which in turn will have the potential to fundamentally transform how faculty and physicians implement and improve their clinical reasoning.
FAST FACTS
- $1,534,972 grant dollars received
- Dozens of Interns, Residents, and Attendings recruited from Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Surgery, and more
- >15 researchers and advisory board members
LONGTERM CAREER OUTCOMES STUDY
Established in response to a 2005 Liaison Committee on Medical Education recommendation regarding institutional outcomes data, the Long-term Career Outcomes Study (LTCOS) is one of the premier research studies coordinated by HPE at USU.
LTCOS seeks to provide a model of educational epidemiology whereby educational processes can be linked to educational and patient-care outcomes. A multi-disciplinary team of more than 35 professionals across USU (in addition to external collaborations with FAIMER, NBME, DMDC, MHS, and AAMC), LTCOS collaboration has the capability of becoming a medical education Framingham Study.
There are three primary goals of LTCOS at USU. First, LTCOS seeks to provide program evaluation in order to support accreditation. As such, the study team conducts diverse program evaluations in order to generate evidence-based evaluations of USU’s efforts in meeting its educational objectives, especially those for accreditation purposes. Second, LTCOS seeks to translate educational research findings into practice. The study supports the translation of research in health professions education into improved practices and policies within USU’s medical school, graduate school of nursing, graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health, residencies, and beyond (e.g., inform admissions and instruction strategies). Findings also inform key stakeholders both inside and outside of USU. Third, LTCOS seeks to provide leadership in health professions scholarship. The study generates scientific knowledge that establishes USU as a local, national, and international leader in the field of health professions education (e.g., peer-reviewed publications and extramural grant funding).
Research for LTCOS exists across 11 themes, including: clinical reasoning, remediation, diversity & inclusion, and gender. The result has been more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, special editions in Military Medicine, publications like the AMA Graduate Report and GAO Report, and LTCOS data used throughout several medical student capstone projects.
INTERPROFESSIONAL HEALTHCARE TEAMS IN THE MILITARY
Interprofessional education has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, enhance collaborative behaviors, reduce clinical error rates, and streamline management of care delivery when introduced in Interprofessional Healthcare Teams (IHTs). However, IHT training is often context dependent, and must suit the demands of a given care context-- and a major research program involving HPE is exploring the unique demands of military IHTs.
Based on the work of a number of HPE and USU faculty and staff-- and funded generously by intramural USU grant support-- this research initiative seeks to optimize U.S. military healthcare in a novel way by better understanding successful military interprofessional healthcare teams. After all, it is natural that a separate understanding of military IHTs should be developed alongside civilian models; the Military Health System (MHS) operates across a broad geographical expanse of care and in a diverse array of environments, in its provision of services to a unique population of active and retired military service members. From the most extreme and isolated situation to the most common consultation, military healthcare team membership can vary widely to include disciplines that are not generally included in civilian healthcare settings.
Drawing on in-depth observations, surveys, and analyses of military healthcare providers, HPE and USU’s collaboration on interprofessional education in military healthcare teams provides the first look into what can make these teams achieve the most appropriate and effective care for the MHS and beyond.
FAST FACTS
- >$700,000 in intramural grant funding
- Multiple peer-reviewed publications and presentations
- >15 collaborators